Grandmaster Meio (グランドマスター冥王, "Meioh" means "Lord of Darkness") is the main antagonist of the Strider series. He is always seen as a cloaked figure floating in mid-air, with no visible legs and long, claw-like fingernails. In Strider 2, his face is completely covered by bandages, and his eyes appear glowing from beneath them.
Profile
Though a being of nearly godlike powers, most of Meio's origins are a mystery. There's a lot of speculation about his true origins, including theories that he's an otherworldy being. He shows a wide variety of attacks, from the simple use of energy attacks from his hands to the ability to summon organical "lifeforms" to sic at his enemies. He's also a very intelligent being, able to create both organic and technological wonders with apparent ease, and cunning enough to obtain the support of earthbound military and political figures.
Grandmaster Meio suddenly appeared one day on Earth in the year 2042, while the world was engulfed in war. He took over the eastern powers and, setting a base in the country of Kazakh, began a full-scale worldwide invasion. The remaining countries joined together to resist him, but it was for nothing and the Grandmaster took over the world after 5 years, taking control of the planet's scientific and military might. He then used the most advanced technology on Earth to built an orbital station ("The Third Moon") to serve as the center of his dictatorship. From there, the Grandmaster proceeds into the next step of his plan.
Strider (Classic Version)
The Grandmaster desires more than simply ruling the world, he wants every single living being to accept him as their god. But as this is impossible given the existence of rebels opposing him and primitive tribes that can't understand him, Meio resorts to the "Third Moon Plan": utilizing his station to burn out all life on Earth, which he despectively calls the "Sons of Old Gods", then repopulate it with his own created lifeforms. In this way, he'd become the true Creator God of all life on the planet.
With humanity in the brink of extinction, the rebel armies against Meio contract their services and they send Strider Hiryu with a single directive: eliminate Grandmaster Meio. Meio puts a bounty on Hiryu's head and sends his minions and hired bounty hunters to stop him, but to no success. Hiryu finally confronts the Grandmaster in his space station, and defeats him after a long battle.
Strider 2
2000 years later, Grandmaster Meio is released from his tomb by a traitorous Strider named Hien, and reclaims control over Earth, now populated by his self-made humanity who worships him as their Creator. Seeing the war-torn and decadent state of the Earth, however, Meio finds no further use for it and decides to destroy it and find another planet where he could start his experiments anew. In the end, however, Meio is confronted by defeated before he could achieve this by the last surviving Strider, a mysterious man carrying the same codename of the one who defeated him before.
Strider (2014)
Much like in the original game, Grandmaster Meio suddenly appeared on Earth and, with the assistance of a corrupt military force, took over the rest of the world. Using Kazakh City as his base of operations, the Grandmaster continued with his primary desire: to create a perfect human race and replace the original humanity with it. For this he established a large research institute that'd continue his work on engineering a perfect race while he made preparations to wipe out humanity with a large gravity-controlling machine.
The Striders sent 11 agents in an attempt to eliminate him, but no one was succesful in their mission, killed within the city by one of Meio's many generals. In the year of "Meio 0048", Strider Hiryu infiltrated Kazakh and after a long and arduous quest, finally defeated the powerful alien entity and saved Earth.
Abilities
- Life Summon: Through extensive scientific research, Grandmaster Meio gained the ability to create life spontaneously. In the first game he did this by shooting thunderbolts which eventually summoned different lifeforms to attack Hiryu. In Strider 2, he was able to summon bizarre lifeforms by raising his hands. This ability is absent in the 2014 game.
- Teleport: Meio can teleport himself to any location instantly.
- Lightning Blast: Meio shoots two lightning bolts from each hand, diagonally down. Any surfaces they touch are charged up briefly, with a small pulse running through them. After losing half his health, Meio redirects both lightnings away from any surface they touch, extending their range.
- Giant Tracker Orb: Meio generates a large plasma orb which slowly follows Hiryu around until it makes contact. The orb can move through walls and objects.
- Fire Array: Meio generates four red (later, six) fireballs above him, which fire at Hiryu one at a time.
- Plasma Array: Meio generates a ring of ten purple plasma orbs around him, which radiates outwards and splits into even smaller orbs covering a large area.
Other appearances
Capcom Quiz: Hatena? no Daibouken
Grandmaster Meio is one of the six main bosses in Capcom Quiz: Hatena? no Daibouken.
Strider II
Grandmaster Meio is the final boss in the Mega Drive and Game Gear ports of the non-canonical Strider Returns: Journey from Darkness. In the original home computer versions, he only makes a cameo in the title screen.
Namco ✕ Capcom
Grandmaster Meio is one of the major antagonists in Namco x Capcom, appearing near the story's end.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
Grandmaster Meio appears in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.
Cameos
- Grandmaster Meio makes a cameo in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as one of the cards in Heroes and Heralds mode.
- Grandmaster Meio appears as a card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash 2.
Gallery
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